Howick and Pakuranga Times : Howick and Pakuranga Times Monday August 12

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8 --- Howick and Pakuranga Times, Monday, August 12, 2013
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By MARIANNE KELLY
WHILE the perception of Ho-
wick ward as a leafy well-to-
do enclave is alive and well,
a group of community volunteers is
scratching under the surface to fnd
people working at the coalface with
disturbed youth.
Sanctioned by the Howick Local
Board, the Youth Advisory Commit-
tee is establishing a database of com-
munity groups working with young
people throughout the ward.
It will follow up with a survey of
the groups and get feedback from the
young people they work with.
The committee was formed about
two years ago after the local board
asked key community operators to
network and advise it about issues
affecting youth throughout the ward.
The committee asked two key
questions: What did the community
youth sector in the ward look like?
And, what were the youth needs in a
ward that was uniquely Howick?
Committee chairman Mike Turin-
sky says ethnic diversity sets the
ward aside from other parts of the
super-city.
“From knowledge gleaned from
schools, about 85 different nationali-
ties live in the ward and more than 50
per cent are new immigrants.
“About 30 per cent of the immi-
grants are from Asia or the Indian
sub-continent, followed by a high
South African and then British pop-
ulation. Those two issues make the
ward unique.”
Demographics of the ward, from
Flat Bush to Edgewater, demonstrate
extreme socio-economic differences,
he says, “yet the perception is of leafy
suburbs and a lot of money”.
Mr Turinsky says three secondary
school principals have a working his-
tory of South Auckland schools and
have told him Howick experiences
many of the same issues, “they just
look different”.
An immigrant culture produces
“third culture kids”.
“The family comes from one cul-
ture and moves into a second. Young
people at home may be South Afri-
can Afrikaner, but at school they are
Kiwis – they have a stake in two dif-
ferent worlds.
“They identify with the two cul-
tures, but often don’t know which
to identify more with. So they have a
culture identity split.”
On the positive side, Mr Turinsky
says “third culture kids” generally
know how to interact with people of
different nations and many become
successful in international business.
“But some suffer from depression
caused by the cultural pull.
“Parents may expect them to be
Chinese at home and have expecta-
tions based on their culture. But a
broader Kiwi culture is also being put
upon young people.
“The parents have diffculty with
this as well. So we have more than
50 per cent of the ward’s popula-
tion in a culture phenomenon, which
is unique to Howick and there are
issues to be addressed.”
Young people, he says, have “dif-
ferent longings”.
“They want to belong, but don’t
know how. They’re longing to be
part of something bigger and want to
be accepted. With multiple cultures,
flling those basic longings can be
challenging and confusing.
“If there is no outlet, they try to
cope by getting depressed and choos-
ing destructive behaviour, such as
partying, drinking and drugs.”
Consequently, the committee’s
research programme is attempting to
identify groups working with youth
at the coalface.
“We want to fnd out about the
services these groups provide, what
young people are accessing, and what
the groups’ greatest needs are.
“We also want to get a snapshot
from the kids themselves about the
issues they’re dealing with, where
they’re going for help, trying to get as
complete a picture as possible.”
Mr Turinsky is chief executive/
director of the Young Life New Zea-
land Trust, which the local board has
nominated to undertake the research
project.
Key players making up an over-
sight group include: Gary Carr, of
The Sowers Trust; Mark van Wyk, a
BotanyLife Community Trust trus-
tee; Fiona Bailey, the Howick Chil-
dren’s and Youth Theatre principal;
Stephen Hackett, Pakuranga United
Rugby Club general manager; and
Richard Dykes, Pakuranga College
assistant principal.
The local board has contributed
$8850 to the project and Mr Turin-
sky says the rest of the costs are being
covered by free time offered by con-
tributors to the group.
The committee is halfway through
compiling the database of known
community groups.
Phase two will involve the survey
of the groups, followed by another
in September of young people aged
between 13 and 18.
A report will be collated and pre-
pared in October, ready for presenta-
tion to the local board.
Mr Turinsky says everyone on the
database will get all the information,
which they will be able to use when
they’re seeking money from funding
agencies and philanthropists.
“The perception there are high
economic resources in this ward is
not correct.
“If we can provide real informa-
tion, the groups can use it to go for the
funding they are wanting to access.
“So far we have known informa-
tion about community groups work-
ing with youth.
“But there may be other small
legitimate groups that we don’t know
about. We want you to contact us and
let us know you are there.
“We want to create the power to
collaborate, share best practice, all
working for the same cause, to help
our youth.”
Community youth groups can reg-
■
ister their interest and provide infor-
mation about themselves by emailing
eastauckland@younglife.org.nz.
YOUTH WORKERS: Learning to understand young people in the Howick ward are, from left, Mark van Wyk, of BotanyLife
Community Church; Mark Finlay, of Sk8Lab; and Mike Turinsky, of Young Life New Zealand.
Times photo Wayne Martin
Looking out for third culture kids